On the day of its annual Rose of Hope fundraiser luncheon, Bridgeport Hospital’s Norma F. Pfriem Breast Care Center announced it was joining forces with Bridgeport-based Cardinal Shehan Center to pilot a new breast cancer awareness program at Shehan.
Shehan, on Main Street in Bridgeport, offers programs and activities aimed at helping moderate and low-income families and young people in the city. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer patients from lower-income areas have lower 5-year relative survival rates than those from higher-income areas at every stage of diagnosis.
According to a released put out Thursday morning, the new collaboration, which will launch in the fall, will offer education and access to mammograms for low-income women. “Women, especially working and low income women, don’t always have time to attend to their health needs,” Nancy Church, the Breast Care Center’s Community Education Coordinator, said in the release. “But they will take time out for their children. Working with community groups that serve young people has helped us connect with high risk women in larger numbers.”
The Breast Care Center educates over 3,000 women each year, many of whom are high risk women from Bridgeport.
Part of Bridgeport Hospital and the Yale New Haven Health System, the Norma F. Pfriem Breast Care Center has served more than 20,000 women and their families since it was established in 1999. The center provides a wide range of diagnostic care and treatment at its including medical oncology, surgical and chemotherapy services, plastic surgery, mammography and radiation therapy, and genetic risk assessment as well as opportunities to participate in clinical trials. The Breast Care Center office at 111 Beach Road in Fairfield also provides comprehensive women’s wellness services and the center has a satellite office on Park Avenue in Trumbull as well. For more information call (203) 255-5300 or visit the Center on the web at www.bridgeporthospital.org/cancer/breast.
